The Young Paleo Champion
by MVFBattleEevee
Summary: {OC Story : Rated T} Madeleine had always wanted to become a Paleontologist ever since she was small, now that she's fifteen she wants to travel the Unova region and do field work...maybe even challenge the Pokemon League along the way. Let's follow her and met the friends she'll make and challenges she'll face along the way.
1. Chapter 1

** Sorry for bunches of inactivity, I've been very busy around the house so that meant I had to quit my life on for a short while. Other updates for other stories will come later so please hang through.**

** However, starting right now, is a new story where my PKMN Trainer OC, Madeleine, begins her journey through Unova in hopes of studying abroad for her work in the Paleontology department. I won't say much now but if you're curious about it later on then feel free to message me. This first chapter is fifteen pages long, probably the longest thing I've ever written multi-chapter story-wise.**

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"So what brings you here today, young miss?"

It was a normal day in Unova, clear skies and fresh spring breezes everywhere throughout the region. Nacrene City was gifted with the best of this weather and both people and pokemon alike were enjoying it to the fullest. The museum itself was quiet with only a few spectators wandering it's neat halls, for many were outside enjoying the day while it lasted.

Lenora's attention itself had been drawn to the weather as she was about to close the gym for the day and head outside with her pokemon. She had instead been drawn to a tiny little girl with a small eevee on her shoulders, skipping inside the museum. The director barely saw kids choose to head indoors to the dusty museum that she owned instead of the bright blue sky and soft green grass outside.

In fact, now that Lenora thought about it, hadn't this tiny girl with the matching small eevee just been here just a few weeks ago? A week? A few days? Yesterday?

She had sighed, smiled, and took a different route, following the girl and paired pokemon down one of the halls. Lenora saw the furry brown pokemon chatter something happily into the girl's ear and the two proceeded to laugh and giggle. They entered the grand hall full of ancient prehistoric pokemon fossils, the girl gaped for a moment (as if it were a ritual) before she proceeded to head straight towards the complete giant skeleton of a dead long neck from the Jurassic Period.

Lenora avoided her for awhile, watching the girl from behind a glass display case with a helix fossil in it, pretending to admire the work of a paleontologist's find. The girl continued to stare up at the giant skeleton as the eevee on her shoulders yawned and scratched itself. She then looked down on the information plate and skimmed over it, as if she had read it already.

So the tiny girl went from display to display, each with different prehistoric bones unearthed from paleo-dig sites around the globe. Sometimes the tiny girl would return to a giant flying pterodactyl display that hung overhead, staring at it for long periods of time.

She spent a whole hour, reading and looking at the exhibit, before she came back to the giant long neck in the center of the room. Lenora waited for a moment before heading towards her, walking quietly up from behind.

The eevee's ears twitched, alerting the duo of Lenora's presence, the girl turned around and faced the museum director.

Lenora dropped the question with a warm smile on her face, looking over the tiny girl and her companion.

The girl stared up at her in fright, revealing her shyness towards strangers. Her eevee brushed it's cheek against hers, giving her strength to respond.

"I-I like looking at the dinosaurs." she said quietly. Lenora noted that the girl had an overbite that made her sentence sound a lot like a reptile's.

She brought herself down to the shy girl's level, "Why do you like the dinosaurs?"

"They're c-cool!" her shyness ebbed and a bright fire of enthusiasm was lit, making her eyes shine.

Lenora clearly saw that this girl didn't like to talk much, so she tried to ease out some more information from her. "Why do you think that they're cool?"

"Just look at them!" she turned back around, startling her eevee. It eeped and jumped off her shoulders as the girl got too excited for it's sake. "They are huge and giant and toothy and big and new and not discovered and tall and strange and-"

She continued to name more and more traits that described the displays, making Lenora stand back up and at the giant long neck with the girl. Lenora was awed at how this tiny child clearly had a deep attraction for the prehistoric beasts. Surely this girl was different than the others, clearly choosing old bones and hardcover books over sunny meadows and puffy white clouds.

The girl stopped after a while, running out of admirable adjectives from her age group. She counted her fingers, trying to see if she had missed a word or two.

Lenora smiled down at her again before ruffling the girl's short golden brain hair, "You like dinosaurs that much, huh?"

"Uh huh!" she nodded, eyes wide.

"How often do you come to my museum then?"

"Yours?!" she gasped, the young child's eyes grew wider then before. "I-I-I…EVERYDAY!"

Lenora hadn't predicted this kind of reaction; a child not knowing who owned the building and works and finally seeing them in person, but then throwing that information to the side for sharing information on probably her favorite place in the region.

"Everyday?" the gym leader breathed.

"Yeah!" her eyes sparkled. "I love it here! I get to see the dinosaurs everyday!"

"How long have you been coming here everyday?"

The girl counted her fingers again, "One…two…three…three months by myself!"

"Yourself?"

"My mom and dad took me here before I could come on my own, every Saturday and Sunday."

The eevee was sitting at the foot of the display, grooming itself as it tried not to touch the platform which the skeleton stood on.

Lenora looked over the girl again, she was wearing a small yellow dress with orange trimmings and golden sandals over small feat. Her frame was a bit chubby, baby fat that would fade away one day, and her shoulders a bit broader than an average girl for her age. The girl definitely was smaller than most in her age group, she even had a splash of freckles on her nose and cheeks. Looking closer, around her head, her eyes were chocolate brown as her hair was a more golden shade. Her hair went down to her shoulders with bangs that neatly touched the tops of her eyebrows.

Lenora stood a bit taller, "How old are you?"

"Five!" the girl thrusted her hand out, extending her tiny fingers to show Lenora her age.

She was amazed, clearly this girl was smaller than the others, but Lenora thought that she would be at least a year older.

"So you like dinosaurs," Lenora got over the shock of this girl's age, "do you only wish to look at them?"

"No!" the girl nearly shouted, as if she was tired of being confused with over something. Her shout attracted the surrounding visitors, causing to look in the three's direction.

"I want to go out and explore the world! I want to become a great paleontologist and discover carnivorous pokemon from long ago!"

Lenora looked at the energetic child for a moment before bursting out laughing, "I've never met a child like yourself, young miss!"

"Stop laughing!" she cried. "I don't want laughing!"

Lenora calmed herself down, wiping tears out of her eyes, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to laugh at you or your dream! In fact, I think you would excel at your dream."

The girl also calmed down, registering what Lenora had just said. Her smile returned, "I am going to be a paleontologist!"

Before she knew it, Lenora was leading her down a staff-only hallway,

the eevee getting up and running after them, "I think I know where you can start, how about you try and study down in the gym? I'll make sure my trainers will help you out."

"I can?" she smiled wider, looking down the hallway in curiosity.

Lenoras' eyes twinkled, maybe this girl could become a great scientist in the paleontology field one day. "What's your name?"

"My name is Madeleine! I live here across the street!"

This is how our little hero, Madeleine, got started on her journey. But what journey did she go on? Surely to become a paleontologist of course? Well maybe she did, maybe she didn't, or maybe fate had something in store for her?

Let's find out about what happened next to Madeleine and Lenora.

The time is a year later in late June, the temperature is off the charts in Nacrene City where Air Conditioners are giving-out and both humans and pokemon alike have to cool off outside instead of the stuffy buildings.

Madeleine sits under a tree with a large book in her lap and her friend, Ashes the eevee, up on one of the branches above her. She is reading about prehistoric, pokemon predators' jaws as Ashes eats a few chesto berries that Madeleine's mother had given him earlier.

By now, Madeleine's hair has gained blonde streaks and was beginning to turn a deep shade of red, even more freckles were beginning to appear. Earlier that year she had gone to Jhoto with her family to her cousin's birthday party, there she had tried to make friends with the overexcited houndoom but had received a nasty bite under her right eye. Since then she had been jittery around canine pokemon (with Ashes being the exception of course). She just got her bandages off last week so now the pink flesh was visible for all to see.

Madeleine was now six, her birthday being in early spring. Her new age hadn't come with any new height changes, much to her disappointment.

A sibling was now on it's way in her family, the news just reaching her ears this morning with breakfast. In fact, that was why the young scientist was here now, she had run out the door with a large book from Lenora's library under her arm and Ashes with a cloth bag in his mouth at her heels.

Madeleine didn't really want a sibling, she preferred to be utterly alone (with Ashes being the exception of course). She didn't really like company and would just enjoy the silence, but that was impossible at her young age. That's why she loved Lenora's private studies, filled with books and silent shelves.

Yet, that wasn't the only reason why she loved the normal type gym.

"Hey, it's Madeleine!"

"Let's go ask her that thing!"

"Yeah! And let's give her a present!"

If Madeleine was ten or twenty years older she would be rolling her eyes, it seems as if a bunch of her classmates have found her. They strode up to her, one of them holding a wriggling lillipup in their arms.

Madeleine tried to hide behind the large book, only letting the three kids look at her small legs.

"Maddy! Maddy! Look we found you someone! It's someone who will finally like you!"

The kid holding the lillipup dropped it and it instantly wiggled itself over to the new person, trying to smell their scent. That new person was Madeleine, she shivered when she went it's wet nose on her left calve. The lillipup then barked as it's friendly head went around the thick book, greeting the brown haired girl.

Madeleine eeped, she didn't really hate canine pokemon, she was just jittery around the really energetic ones. She loved each and every pokemon really but couldn't help but feel scared after the houndoom incident.

The brown puppy tried to lick Madeleine's arms but Ashes quickly spoke to it, barking out that Madeleine was frightened of canines and that it should try acting calmer.

It tilted it's head before barking in understanding, laying down next to Madeleine with his belly out for her to pet. She lifted her hand and shakily reached out her hand to accept the invitation.

Before she could try and make friends with the friendly puppy, the child who had been holding the lillipup earlier came back and quickly picked it back up again. The trio's plans have been foiled by Ashes, Madeleine's only true friend.

They left, Madeleine with her hand outstretched still for the lillipup. Ashes jumped out of the tree and sat on his haunches on Madeleine's right, he nudged her for the outstretched hand.

Madeleine put her empty hand on Ashes's head and petted him. She sighed sadly, looking down at the contempt eevee. Ashes purred into the tiny girl's touch, he was probably the only living being alive who enjoyed Madeleine's company.

Her thoughts turned gloomy, dark rain clouds drizzling her mind. Ashes sensed this and quickly jumped into her lap. Madeleine was caught by surprise, her book falling out of her grasp as Ashes wiggled into a comfortable position.

She smiled at him and scooted the book aside in the grass before also getting into a comfortable position. The two then feel into a peaceful slumber in the summer mourning. Madeleine would dream about old pokemon bones that she would soon discover one day. She would live in a house, alone with only the company of books and her research (with Ashes being the only exception of course).

Four years passed, many things had changed.

For starters, Madeleine now had a brother whom was six years younger than her. She had honestly wanted a sister at first, after getting over her thing for not wanting a sibling at all.

His name was Allesandro, to match with an ongoing theme with the family names. Madeleine's parents were Lucy and Robert, common names in contrast with Madeleine and Allesandro.

Second, now that Madeleine was ten she had her own private study and was now a trainer at the gym. Ashes was her chosen pokemon to match with the normal type gym, a great team who battled the challengers fairly.

Finally, her appearance had changed again. Her hair was now a deep shade of brown with red undertones, freckles grew and draped over her cheeks and body, eyes had grown darker, and her bite scar was beginning to blend into her face. Gladly though, she had undergone a growth spurt where she was now one pace under the average height in her age group.

However, the bullies had only grown in number over the years, worse things had been said and done to her now. Whenever she tried to play outside she would always come back indoors with a bruise on her nose from a dodge ball that had been thrown at her. They had even called her by other annoying nicknames that had to do with her birth name.

She would always tell them to stop but these requests would only fall on deaf ears until she had to scream and hit them. This caused many angry phone calls to be directed at her household or Lenora's private office. It was all the same in the end, Madeleine would become the victim of everything and feel a dark void of frustration growing in her chest everyday.

Her parents would always chew her out and say things like 'just ignore them' or 'change your habits, they will stop if you stop'. They weren't listening to Madeleine's pleas for they already had their hands full with Allesandro, much to their daughter's disappointment. She needed them at this time in her age, where parents were the best morale support for her.

Lenora took things differently, being a more motherly figure to her. She told Madeleine that the other children were idiots for bugging her, just because Madeleine was only being herself. The museum director encouraged her to follow her dreams and to do whatever her heart thinks is right, as long as Madeleine was happy everything would be alright.

Right now, the young girl was caught up in a battle with an older challenger who had come for the Basic Badge from Lenora. Ashes had been earlier told to not dodge all the attacks and to miss a few times to make things fair, since he was now at a higher level than the newer trainers.

Ashes faked a faint and the challenger cheered with their young snivy, Madeleine brought out the poke ball that she had finally bought for Ashes with her own allowance last month and returned him. The two trainers shook hands respectively once the snivy was healed and brought back to the small party of pokemon.

He was given his tip for where to find Lenora and went off, leaving the tiny trainer with her friend kept safely inside of his sphere. An older trainer who was also a part of the gym's staff then came up to her.

"Yer shift is up, I'll take it from here." the picnicker smiled warmly and Madeleine nodded shyly as she backed off from the position. The older trainer looking a bit miffed at Madeleine's response.

She couldn't help it, Madeleine was a shy person who didn't know how to act around fellow humans. Madeleine did like the kind trainers who worked alongside her but just couldn't find the courage to talk to them without sounding stressed.

She walked down and out of the gym, towards the main level of the museum, and went up another level towards the private studies in the back. Madeleine kept walking until she stood in front of the door with the temporary label 'Madeleine's Study Hall'. The trainer opened the door before shutting it close, then making a b-line for the outdated PC and healing system that had been donated to the museum ages ago for the students.

Madeleine put her only poke ball into the system and let him rest up as she then went over to a tall coffee table that was covered with wax paper drawings and newly laminated hardcover books about prehistoric feathered pokemon. She sat down atop a beaten brown couch that lifted her tiny legs off the floor before sighing.

It wasn't long before there was a knock on her door and Lenora's husband came in carrying a stack of books.

"Hey sport!" the energetic man smiled at Madeleine. "Lenora would like to have a word with you soon, but until then, check out this new shipment for the library!"

He nimbly set the bottom book down on a separate table nearer to the PC system and left with a hurried 'good bye' over his shoulder.

Madeleine didn't move from her spot for over five minutes, way too comfortable on the battered piece of furniture. Eventually she had to answer the rattling poke ball in the holder and take Ashes out for him to stretch his legs. He then leapt onto the couch before curling into a sleeping position with the tip of his tail on his nose, he then begun to slow his breathing.

Madeleine was left standing, too lazy to sit back down. She took the book that had been given to her off the nearby table and flipped through it. Upon further inspection it was an illustration book where prehistoric pokemon had been drawn for reference in studies and artistic reasons.

The young trainer gazed at the yellow pages, mesmerized at the fine details that were put into them. She then returned to the coffee table and cleared away enough space for the book and some clean paper. Madeleine spotted a few baby archens in one corner of the page and tried to copy the drawing.

She was still drawing when Lenora came into the room an hour later. The gym leader saw that there were some new study notes on the walls, except that they weren't notes but drawings with tiny notations on sticky notes pasted onto them.

Lenora looked over Madeleine's shoulder and saw that she was trying to draw a rather complicated drawing of two ramphardos's brawling each other.

"I see that you've made yourself quite busy." she remarked and Madeleine flinched. Lenora looked in surprise as Madeleine quickly covered up what she had been working on with her arms.

"What's wrong? Do you not want me to see your work anymore?"

Madeleine didn't talk for a moment, just staring up at her boss with wide eyes. When she did decided to talk, she looked down at the floor in order to avert her gaze from Lenora's, "I don't like it when people watch me."

Lenora looked confused, "What do you mean?"

Madeleine's eyes darted around the room, still ignoring Lenora's gaze, "People are mean when they see me do things."

"It's fine," Lenora smiled down at her, "everyone feels the same way about someone looking over their shoulder, judging you about the things you do."

Madeleine's eyes flicked over to look at Lenora's before they returned to the carpeted floor.

"Could we please sit down? I just had to beat a fresh new trainer a few minutes ago." the museum director made her way towards the beaten couch. Madeleine put down her drawing utensils and stood up before also making a b-line for the couch. The two sat next to each other, with a foot of space between them.

Lenora started, "I know that you like this museum and all, but there's going to be a new change in line up for the gym soon."

"You're retiring?"

"No Madeleine, but the Pokemon League is expecting a change of Gym Leader line up soon, probably in about five or six years I should say. They told me that since I run both a museum and a gym that I might not be able to make it."

"What about everyone who works at the gym?"

Lenora sighed, "They said that if I get taken-out there will be another Normal Type Gym along the line, so you and everyone else at the gym can work there."

She then smiled down at Madeleine, "But you don't have to worry about this, I'm sure that in the next few years you'll outgrow my silly library and go on your own journey."

Madeleine blinked, "I will? I'll go travel Unova?"

"Oh no, the choice is yours, I'm just being optimistic about the future."

Time passed again, it is now Madeleine's fifteenth birthday.

"Happy Birthday Sweetheart," her father, Robert, kissed her cheek after they finished singing the birthday song. Madeleine smiled and blew out the candles, making a wish in the progress.

Things had greatly changed over the course of time, such as the fact that Madeleine gone through an incredible growth spurt and was now a bit taller than her age group. Even her hair had changed to a deep brown with red swirled into it. Ashes was still her only pokemon, making him quite powerful still.

The teen was busy unwrapping her gifts at the moment, it wasn't until she had uncovered a new archer's bow from her grandfather over in Jhoto that she had discovered a small package wrapped in flowery gift-wrap and a single frilly ribbon.

"Who's this from?" she picked it up.

"Oh!" her mother picked up Duffy, their new pet Glameow. "That's from Lenora! She dropped it off early this morning before she went back to the gym."

"Hm." Madeline looked at the parcel, twirling it between her delicate fingers. She looked at it again, pondering in thought, before taking off the ribbon and tape off to unfurl what was inside.

She gasped so loudly that her mother nearly dropped Duffy. Madeleine then squealed as she held up a real plume fossil, chiseled around the edges of the skeleton.

Allesandro jumped up to look over her shoulder, "What is it?"

"A PLUME FOSSIL!" she screeched. "I GOT A PLUME FOSSIL FROM LENORAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Robert covered his ears, "Ouch. That's great! You should thank her when she-"

No use, Madeleine was already out the door.

Allesandro looked at the remainder of the cake, "Can I have some more?"

Lucy looked at him before putting a squirming Duffy back on the floor.

"One plume fossil ready to be restored please!" the young paleontologist nearly slammed the poor rock down on the table, startling the man behind the counter.

"Uh…" he carefully picked up the fossil. "Sure, just please wait here while I get it set up."

Madeleine stayed quite as he took the plume fossil behind the counter and towards the machine in the back. She grew jumpy when she heard the hum of it's engine and the whirring of it's cleaning utensils going over the old bones. There was a flash of light and a squawk of protest before everything grew quiet.

The man came back out with an empty poke ball and a drowsy looking pokemon in a clean white blanket that was resting in his arms. he set the ball and pokemon down on the counter, "Here's your Archen, would you like to give her a name?"

"Her?" she looked at the feathered pokemon who looked back up at her and blinked very sleepily.

"Yes, your archen is female. I have all the information about your new pokemon here…" he handed Madeleine a folder with the archen's revival data.

She looked over at it again, "Can I give Archen a name?"

He nodded, "Sure, just make sure you add it in the information."

Madeleine picked up Archen, "I'll name you…Fera."

The two walked home with Fera in Madeleine's arms.

"Hey Mom? Can I go on an adventure across Unova?"

Lucy looked up from her work in the kitchen as she was preparing dinner.

It had been a month since Madeleine's birthday, the household peaceful once more. Fera had been introduced to the modern world and had taken it well, even she had warmed up to Ashes who also liked meeting the small archen.

Madeleine had properly thanked Lenora the day after her birthday by showing up to the gym for work with Fera. Fera had even been placed alongside Ashes for their work in the gym.

Lenora was a bit overworked these days, seeing that the line up for gym leaders was sure to change soon. She had to only open the gym up on certain days due to an excessive overload of paperwork.

Team Plasma had passed by a few weeks ago, rallying protests for the release of pokemon. Madeleine hadn't really gone to the protest but had rather stayed inside studying about prehistoric body structures.

It had been Madeleine who had asked the question, catching her mother off guard, "Why would you want to leave Nacrene? Didn't you want to work at the museum when you were older?"

"Well, yeah…" Madeleine sat up from her spot on the living room floor. "I have been working at the gym and museum alike already for years. I've read the same books and gone over the same notes dozens of times, I've even battled the same way for years, holding back Ashes's true potential is enough.

It was true, Ashes was going through a stunt of growth by being Madeleine's main battler for gym battles. He would sometimes released pent-up energy outside, making him stressed. Fera was still new and did not battle as much, but when she did she would also have to hold back.

"So you want to explore the world? See new things?"

"Yeah, I'm not really a small-town girl, Mom." Madeleine knew what her mother was doing, trying to make her feel guilty about doing new things that Lucy didn't like. "I want to go and explore, study abroad on the road, see natural environments, and experience the heat of real battles."

"So you don't want to be a Paleontologist anymore?"

"No! MOM! I want to be a Paleontologist still but I don't want to be a small basculin coming from an even smaller pond! I want to expand my resources, explore the world and such."

"Why don't you become an artist? You have the talent for it, much of your father's side of the family are artists even."

"I like to draw, I admit it, but I just don't-"

"I'll call your aunt, Valerie, tonight, maybe she can give you some pointers."

Lucy wasn't listening anymore, going on about how great Madeleine would make it in the artist world and how she would fit so well in the family.

Madeleine absolutely hated it when her parents would do this, draw her away from the path that she had chosen for herself and closer to where they wanted her to be. She couldn't really make friends anymore because of her parents either, since they would always set these crazy rules up for her about what she could and could not do.

Later that night, Madeleine repeated what she had said to her mother.

"Can I leave to go adventuring around Unova sometime?"

Allesandro looked up from his spaghetti before continuing to eat his meal, deciding to listen in to what was about to go down. Lucy looked at Madeleine, clearly she had forgotten about their earlier conversation. Robert just glanced at Madeleine, took a few bites out of his meal, and continued the conversation.

"Why so? What makes you driven to leave Nacrene?"

Madeleine repeated what she had said to her mother earlier.

"If you think that you feel that way then sure, go ahead, you should follow your dreams."

"Yeah Madeleine," Allesandro looked up. "Do what you want that makes you happy, and healthy."

"Hold up." Lucy dropped her fork and brought her hands together. "You're agreeing to this?"

"I don't see why not," Robert took a long sip from his tall glass of water. "I went traveling through Jhoto when I was seventeen with my growlithe, Samas."

"Did you beat the Elite Four, Dad?" Allesandro looked up again with spaghetti dripping out of his mouth.

"Not really," Robert chuckled, "I had a team of five before I stopped after the final gym, my team was fairly good but I didn't crave for fame by challenging the League."

"What was your team?" Madeleine took a sip of milk.

"Samas, of course, as an arcanine, then I had a rapidash named Huan, an ampharos named Trace, a vileplume named Stacy, and a pidgeotto named Mark. They've all found a nice resting place by now, knowing that Samas is with Dian is good enough for me to know."

"Are the rest dead?" asked Allesandro.

Robert sighed, "Well, Stacy planted herself in a hill when me and your mom visited Kalos, while Huan is at a retirement field in Jhoto for equestrian pokemon. Trace is also in Jhoto with Dian, and Mark has been laid to rest near her house."

"Is Stacy dead?"

Robert nodded, "Yes, Stacy is dead, she is a peaceful flower in Kalos now."

Lucy tried to get the conversation back on track, "But Madeleine is fifteen, not seventeen, she's still too young to travel Unova."

"I've already handled myself around the gym and the museum pretty well." the daughter in question butted in. "I already have a neat job at both and I handle the lifestyle here pretty well too."

Her father nodded, "She's right, sometimes I phone in when I'm at work and she seems to be fine."

Madeleine's mother looked at her, "Then what's your goal, if you're going to challenge the gyms?"

"I'll go along the League," Madeleine took another sip of milk, "challenge the gyms in order, start in Striaton, maybe stop by Nuvema Town to tour the pokemon lab there. Mainly I'll be studying abroad, in the field, taking notes on the wildlife and finds I pass through."

"Will you battle the Elite Four?" her brother dropped a wad of red sauce into his lap.

"Hey!" Robert looked angry at Allesandro's mess, seeing how he still hadn't have learned how to eat over his plate.

"Maybe I will," Madeleine finished eating and took her dirty dishes into the kitchen. "I'll catch and befriend some new pokemon along the way, maybe even meet fellow scientists who will help me in my research."

"Maybe you'll make some new friends," her father said as he got out some new napkins for Allesandro's mess.

"Yeah…" before Lucy could say anything, Madeleine disappeared into her room.

The next day Lenora opened her gym and was met with a heavy flow of trainers wanting to beat her for the Basic Badge. Madeleine was called in that day to help with the flow and battle out the new trainers, even letting Fera into the battlefield.

It wasn't until after the gym was to close for the day did Madeleine approach Lenora. She knocked on her office door and heard a swift 'please wait a few minutes' before turning to sit on the waiting couch facing the door.

Lenora came out after a short wait, she spotted Madeleine and ushered her inside her office, "Come in! Come in, I was just about to clean up!"

Madeleine sat down in one of her leather chairs and waited for her boss to sit at her desk. Lenora had to push some large sheets of paper off of her desk before she could sit, but when she did she let out a big fat sigh.

"Oh Madeleine," she put a hand to her head, "I'm getting old."

"Don't say that," Madeleine also sighed but not as large as her mentor's, "you still have plenty of years to teach me plenty of things."

"Hm," Lenora smiled. "That's kind of you, Madeline."

Madeleine nodded, "I actually need to tell you something."

"Shoot," Lenora cleared off some more papers to put her elbows on the table.

"I'm making plans to explore Unova in a few months." The auburn teen looked into Lenora's eyes.

The museum director didn't talk for a moment, "Do your parents know?"

"Yes?"

"Do you have a planned route?"

"Nearly done deciding which towns to visit."

"How far are you going to go?"

"All over, maybe even challenge the Elite Four."

"What is the point of your travel?"

"To study abroad and do field work, to also challenge Ashes and Fera and maybe even some new pokemon friends."

"What about you?"

"What?"

"Are you going to challenge yourself too?"

"In studies yes, I plan to study harder than ever. To challenge my brain, yes, I plan to challenge how I interpret the world."

"Are you going to try and make friends?"

"Scientists yes, but I plan on making friends with the pokemon out-"

"Madeleine," Lenora put one of her hands on her face, "aren't you going to try and make human friends soon?"

"Why?" if Madeleine was five years older she would have sniffed at Lenora's suggestion. "I hate humans, they think they're so high and mighty but really they are just weak when they are alone and separated without each other.

Lenora narrowed her eyes, "I see…"

She stood back up and smiled, "Thank you for answering my questions, I think you're fit to go out and explore Unova."

Madeleine was taken aback by Lenora's sudden change in mood, but quickly smiled as well, "You're welcome? Oh! And thanks for letting me go, will there be someone to replace while I'm gone? Are you going to secure my workplace or will I have to move out? Do I-"

"Madeleine," Lenora cut her short by coming around and putting an arm around her shoulder. "I'll take care of everything, just make sure you're well prepared for the long roads ahead."

"Thanks Lenora," Madeleine sighed again, tired after their hard day of new challengers.

A few months later, Madeleine stood at the mouth of Route Three, with a green backpack over her shoulders, a white and pink survival bag in one arm, and a large blue lunch box in the other. Ashes stood proudly by her feet with Fera calling out happily, both excited for the new adventure ahead of them. Madeleine wore a pair of aviator goggles like a headband on her head, they shinned in the afternoon sunlight.

Her parents and brother stood behind her with a few of the town's residents, looking at her back as she tried to look back.

Finally Madeleine did and smiled, "Don't worry, I'll be back before you know it."

Her father came up and hugged her, "I'll miss you, you're my hero you know?"

Madeleine hugged him back, "Same."

Robert backed away and Allesandro came up to hug her, "Bye Madeleine."

She patted his back, "Bye bro, I'll see you soon."

He backed away also and Lucy came up to squeeze her, "Come back soon, okay?"

Madeleine patted her back too, "Okay, I'll be back soon."

Lucy went back to the arms of Robert as she began to sob, seeing one of her babies already off.

The townspeople began to way their goodbyes, even her family shouting her lines for good luck. Madeleine smiled and turned back on her heel, Ashes and Fera by her side as she began to walk towards Striaton City.

"Wait up!" a familiar voice came running out of the city towards her.

Madeleine spun around to see that it was Lenora, she ran towards her with a small box in her hands.

Lenora stooped in front of her and panted, short of breathe, "Surprised to see me here when I told you I couldn't come?"

"Yeah," Madeleine looked at her, "is everything okay?"

"Oh yeah, yeah, everything is fine," she pulled herself together and handed her the box, "I just wanted to give you a little present before you left."

"Lenora you didn't have to," Madeleine's words trailed off as she opened the box to find a small rectangular license. "What-?!"

"It's your Trainer's License!" Lenora smiled. "I wanted it to be a surprise until last night but the mail truck didn't come until this morning, if it didn't get here I was going to ship it to the Pokemon Center in Striaton City or send one of my trainers to deliver it to you.

"Anyway, every trainer needs a license if they're going to battle the gyms and use the PC system for storing pokemon."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" asked Madeleine. "I would've done it myself."

"Don't worry about it." Lenora put Madeleine's hands in hers, "this is your journey and we all want to be a part of it. Just remember that no matter how hard you'll try to do things alone, people will still have your back."

Madeleine nodded gratefully and took the license, "Thans Lenora, I was happy to be your student."

"To still are," the director smiled warmly at her, "no matter how old you get you'll never stop learning, and the funny thing is: you never stop growing."

Madeleine and Lenora hugged before the newly licensed trainer went down into Route Three. Everyone behind her waved and shouted farewell to her.

Once Madeleine was half-way deep into the entrance, she turned around and shouted, "I promise that I'm going to bring back the Striaton Gym Badge when I return for you Lenora!"

"I'll be waiting!" Lenora shouted back.

Slowly, the townspeople went back to their everyday life without a Madeleine running around town with a gallant eevee or excited archen by her side.

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** I have another chapter to write now so again I'm sorry for the inactivity because of summer, I always find that I'm more relaxed when school is in session haha.**

** -MVF**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry I didn't upload this sooner, I was actually busy rereading it and editing what I could because I felt like this chapter was too small.**

**There's also another one coming so please enjoy!**

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"Oh? You wish to challenge our gym?" the green haired leader, with his two brothers beside him, looked down at Madeleine with bemused smiles on their faces.

Madeleine had spent the night on Route Three before arriving in Striaton City, she had soon spent the rest of the day researching and training her pokemon at the Pokemon Center. She took another day for training and exploring the city before deeming herself, Ashes, and Fera ready for challenging the gym.

She stood outside of the famous restaurant with Ashes and Fera by her sides, each looking up at the three leaders with a look of determination that matched their trainer's. Each said leader was looking at Madeleine and her pokemon with quizzical expressions, judging her by appearance.

"You're not one of the Professor's." Cress stated.

"And you came from the west entrance of town." smirked Chili.

Cilan put his hands down, "I think we'll happily accept your challenge, come meet us inside in just a few minutes."

The three turned back around and left Madeleine and her pokemon outside. Madeleine was speechless, clearly she had not been expecting such a reply. Ashes's fur ruffled up before he shook himself out to look up at his trainer while Fera just squawked once before fluttering up and onto Madeleine's shoulder.

She waited five minutes in the morning sunlight before letting herself in. Clearly the restaurant part of the building was closed, lights were off, chairs were stacked, and even tables were upturned. There was, however, a spotlight showcasing the kitchen doors with a gentle-looking Chili also showcasing them.

"Right this way, mademoiselle." he gestured for her to enter.

Madeleine complied and made her way through the kitchen before coming to Cilan, who stood at the back of the clean room in front of a single blue door. She was told to enter and she complied again.

Madeleine then entered the gym part of the building, looking up at the lit-up room in awe. Her pokemon danced around her as they also took turns gazing up at the large room.

Cress stood up on the platform across the room, "Please take your place on your side's platform, miss."

Madeleine, Ashes, and Fera went for the podium, Madeleine jumping onto her place as Ashes and Fera stood beside her.

"Since your eevee is a normal type," Cress continued, "we've decided to battle you based on your archen, a rock and flying type. Which means that I will be your opponent."

He then brought out a rather large looking lillipup, who barked and wagged it's tail on the gym floor.

Madeleine eyed the canine pokemon cautiously, still scared of the event at her cousin's birthday party from many years ago.

"Fera," she called the archen to the floor, "would you like a crack at it?"

Fera squawked once and fluttered down to her team's side of the gym floor, looking over her opponents with curious eyes.

Cilan then appeared at the referee's place and put his hand up, "Round one! Challenger…"

He looked at Madeleine, "I'm sorry but I don't believe that you've told us your name."

"It's Madeleine!" she called.

Cilan nodded and began again, "Challenger Madeleine V.S. Leader Cress! Begin!"

"Go Lillipup!" Cress commanded. "Use leer!"

The lillipup complied, causing Fera to take a few steps back and make whining noises.

"Don't let him get you down!" Madeleine reassured. "Use acrobatics!"

Fera barked and quickly dished-out her move on the opponent, making him fly back a foot before jumping back up.

"You're strong," Cress remarked, "but the battle has just begun. Lillipup! Use take down!"

Lillipup charged and hit Fera, making her fly back and into Madeleine's stage.

"Fera!" Madeleine cried out in worry as Ashes barked.

The lillipup jumped back and limped, clearly showing it's recoil damage. Fera flumped down onto the floor, trying to push herself up.

"Go again! But this time use bite!" lillipup charged again with his fangs exposed, glowing white with power.

"Fera! Get up!" the archen finally found her strength and stood back up on her thin legs. "Use Quick Guard!"

Fera complied and brought up a shield just in time before the lillipup could land it's attack. It bounced back and charged again, trying to break the temporary shield.

She couldn't hold up the shield any longer, so Fera instantly went airborne by foot, fluttering with her two wing-like appendages. Lillipup missed her and nearly hit Madeleine's stage, he disarmed his fangs and turned back to face Fera who had landed on the opposite side of the gym.

"Use ancient power!" Madeleine wanted Fera to move fast and strike first.

Fera then stomped her feet and raised her arms, calling forth rocks out of purple energy. She swung her body forward and screeched a battle cry, causing the large boulders to ram into the opposing lillipup.

Being weak already, the lillipup flew back into Madeleine's stage with the boulders, letting out a cry. When the dust settled, Lillipup was buried in the ruble under Madeleine, with a look on his face that evidently showed that he had fainted.

"Lillipup is unable to battle!" Cilan raised his hand. "Madeleine's archen, Fera, has won Round One!"

"Impressive," remarked Cress as he fished-out Lillipup's poke ball. "Get a good rest, my friend."

Lillipup was gone in a flash of red light, leaving Fera as the only able pokemon on the gym floor.

"Good work Fera," Madeleine smiled and also returned her pokemon. She nodded to the eevee beside her, "You're up Ashes."

Ashes barked, wagged his tail once, and hopped onto the gym floor, Cress threw another poke ball and unleashed Panpour. The blue ape pokemon yipped in excitement when it saw Ashes.

"Final Round! Begin!"

Madeleine decided to go first this time, "Ashes! Use quick attack!"

Ashes yowled before covering himself with white light, he charged at Panpour and successfully knocked his opponent to the floor. Panpour let out a yelp in surprise as the eevee tackled him into the ground, allowing Ashes to bounce back to his side of the gym to aim another attack. The water type placed both arms under him before standing back on his own two legs.

"Go for it!" Madeleine commanded. "Spray sand all over Panpour!"

Barking in response, Ashes complied, he quickly turned and kicked the dirt out from under his hind legs all over Panpour. To say the least, the ape pokemon wasn't expecting this kind of an attack as bits of debris were sprayed into his eyes, blinding him.

Panpour screeched and rubbed at his eyes, trying to get the sand out of them. Madeleine then made the decision to make a move, allowing Ashes to charge forward to bite at his disabled opponent.

Cress tried to take the wheel from his pokemon, "Panpour, quickly use water gun!"

The spray pokemon stopped struggling and faced the supposed direction where Ashes was charging from. He opened his mouth before closing it, allowing a stream of water to build up. As soon as Ashes was a foot away he blew the intense stream of water at full force.

What happened in the next few seconds was quite unexpected. First, the stream of water completely missed Ashes and instead went straight for Madeleine, giving her a face-full of water to splutter and squirm in. Second, Ashes had lunged and bit Panpour on his right shoulder before digging in and throwing Panpour to the ground. Finally, Panpour was defeated in the short struggle.

Ashes jumped back and let out a bark of triumph, the brothers however were a bit mixed between Madeleine's new wet look and the victory.

Cilan finally pulled himself together, "Panpour is unable to battle, Ashes the eevee is the victor, which means that Madeleine wins the battle!"

"Yay!" Madeleine smiled as she pushed some of her damp hair away from her face. Cress arrived off the stage with Pansear out of his poke ball, the small ape pokemon suddenly jumping onto her shoulder to try and warm her up.

Later, back at the front of the gym, a now dry Madeleine was being handed the Trio Badge. Ashes was sitting on his hind legs with his back straight and proud eyes. Fera was standing on Madeleine's shoulder, looking at the shiny badge with interest.

Cress handed it to the young paleontologist, "Congratulations 'mam, it was a pleasure battling with you and our pokemon."

"Thank you," she bowed politely before putting away the badge in her case for safe keeping. Cress also handed her a TM and a certificate for a later date.

Madeleine looked at the slip of paper, "What's this?"

The brothers looked at each other before Cilan spoke up, "You might have heard about the new change in gym line up, correct? Well, our gym isn't going to be in the next generation so we are supposed to give out permits in case you decided to take a break for a short time while challenging the gyms."

"But why a permit?" Madeleine looked at it again.

Chili spoke this time, "To show that you have defeated us as a gym in case you challenge the new eight leaders."

She nodded, "Thanks again for the battle, it was certainly a pleasure."

Madeleine slipped the slip of paper into her back pocket as the small group said their goodbyes. It was nearly noon and the day had only just ended for her, Ashes was skipping joyfully by her side as the three entered back into the Center.

In just another hour, Madeleine was on her way out of Striaton City and down Route Two, with both Ashes and Fera in their poke balls. Madeleine hopped over logs and went down roads less taken, taking her time by dotting down notes and information for her studies.

She went into Accumula Town around two hours after she had left the previous city. There wasn't much to see so she plugged in her coordinates to her Xtransceiver before heading down Route One. The beautiful route was surly one to catch her interest, making want to stop and make notes or a sketch ever ten paces or so.

So Madeleine arrived at Nuvema Town around four in the afternoon, she knew that the only decent place for shelter and food was going to be back in Accumula Town so she couldn't stay long.

Madeleine headed down the route that would take her to the Professor's house and stopped outside the door. She raised a hand and knocked three times before waiting.

Professor Juniper came to the door and saw the auburn trainer, "Hello there! What can I do for you?"

Madeleine almost forgot why she had come to the lab, "I-I-Hello, I'm Madeleine from Nacrene City. I was one of Lenora's students and I came here to tour the lab."

"Ah yes, that's right," the pokemon professor fished out an envelope from her coat pocket and read it again. "Lenora said that she was sending in one of her best, but I didn't think that you would be so young."

Madeleine laughed nervously, "Yeah, I'm just happy that she takes my love for Paleontology seriously."

Professor Juniper put away the note and brought an arm around Madeleine, "Well then, allow me to show you my lab."

Madeleine was brought inside and the door automatically closed behind them, she was brought around a few shelves full of books and notes before they came to a table.

"Now, I know that I have a few fossils around here somewhere…" the professor had unhooked herself from Madeleine and was now digging around through a cardboard bow.

She stopped, "There we go." Juniper brought out a small claw fossil, "I bet'chya that Lenora doesn't have one of these babies."

It was handed to Madeleine, whose eyes sparkled as the fossil was placed into her hand, "Wow! Thank you! Can I please study it?"

Juniper nodded, "Of course, I'll pull up a chair and some tools for you."

She left as Madeleine picked up a magnifying glass, it wasn't long before the professor returned with the promised items. Madeleine said her thanks and Juniper was off again.

"If you need me, I'll be in the back!"

"Okay!" Madeleine threw the word over her shoulder and went straight to work. She flew herself into the lost world in which the claw fossil would have lived in many millennia ago.

Madeleine imagined the tall tropical plants brushing over the armored creature's back as it scuttled across the sandy beaches in search of food. The creature's tiny feet making soft imprints in the sand as it swirled around the plants in the shade. It's large eyes looking at an even tinier creature digging through the sand that was not shaded in front of it.

The creature stopped to study it's prey, neither blinking or moving it's appendages. It moved closer, closer, closer…

"Excuse me," Madeleine jumped as someone touched her shoulder. She turned around to see that it was an elderly woman wrapped in shawls and beads.

"Yes 'mam?" Madeleine didn't liked being touched by strangers, it was one of her many odd habits.

The elderly woman blinked at her, "I was wondering if you knew where I was?"

Madeleine didn't have time to respond, Professor Juniper had suddenly just came running into her section of the lab, "I'm so sorry!"

She stopped near the two and panted, "Madeleine, this is Madam Leovenne, she works up in Striaton City as a Physic for the Dream Research Center."

"Nice to met you," Madeleine bowed her head to Leovenne.

Madam Leovenne wasn't looking at her, "Is that my cookie?"

She tried picking up the claw fossil that Madeleine had pinned down under the giant magnifying glass that was stuck onto the table. Madeleine wanted to swat the woman's hand away and say 'hey!' but instead pushed her hand away.

"No 'mam, that's not edible." the teen had put enough venom into her voice to let Madam Leovenne to step back. The elderly lady had widened her eyes and pulled her hands back as if Madeleine had swatted them away.

Juniper had quickly pulled Leovenne away, "Now Rachael, what have I told you? This is the Pokemon Laboratory where I do my research…"

The two had disappeared into another room. Madeleine waited a few seconds before letting out a fat sigh of relief, glad that the prehistoric fossil hadn't ended up as a before-dinner snack.

She wasn't really much in the mood for studying after that, she looked around quickly at the fossil for ten minutes before shutting off the overhead light. Madeleine unpinned the fossil and moved away the magnifying glass before picking up the claw fossil again to finish writing in a few notes.

When she was finished, Madeleine closed her notebook and tidied up the desk before unsteadily setting the claw fossil back down. She turned around to leave but found Madam Leovenne blocking her way.

"Madam Leovenne!" she eeped, holding her book and bags in front of her.

The Madam looked down at her with unfocused eyes, slowing her eyes began to fog up until they were a milky white.

"Madeleine Fowler," she spoke, making the said person flinch. it wasn't even her voice anymore but a high-pitched drone that oozed ancient wisdom. "The child of the bird hunters and sky maps, you have a terrible fate in store for you."

Madeleine gulped and took a step back, her back bumped into the chair that she had pushed into the desk.

Madam Leovenne took a step forward to counter, "The Dragon's Tear has already marked you, you cannot escape this fate! You will perish altogether with those you find nice company with! If you cannot see the light in time then you shall be incinerated by the darkness of your soul!"

She then quickly leaned forward, "When all is over there will be nothing you consider precious left! Change your fate now for it is not too late!"

Her chanting continue as Madeleine tried to look away. She closed her eyes and blocked out whatever the old woman threw at her, trying to disappear into the darkness of her mind. Dripping wet darkness, enveloping her, accepting her…

Then altogether Madam Leovenne stopped, she pulled back, made a jerking movement, and gasped for breathe. Madeleine peeked with one eye and saw a droopy-looking Leovenne, slumped over and drooling on her pink clothes.

The young paleontologist untangled herself and stepped forward to find that the Madam was asleep. "Hello?" she half-whispered.

Madam Leovenne suddenly snorted and woke up, looking at Madeleine with her normal blue eyes again. Seeing the girl pale as a sheet of printer paper she put her hands on her shoulders, "Goodness me! Are you alright? You look like you just had a bad surprise from a ghost pokemon!"

Again with the stranger's touch, Madeleine flinched and unhooked herself from Madam Leovenne's grasp, "Y-yes! I'm fine! I-I just need to go now!"

Madeleine brushed past her and went back towards the entrance, setting her bags comfortably around her shoulders.

Madam Leovenne waved her arm, "Okay! I'll go walk Professor Jenifer home then!"

Madeleine went at a fast pace through Nuvema Town until she reached the entrance to Route One. She stopped for a breather, crouching over with her hands on her knees, stamina wasn't her best trait.

The auburn teen caught her breath looked around, the sky was a deep rainbow gradient. Blood orange clouds transcended into a deep ocean blue color as the sky was a fading violet with a cream colored sun still fighting for total takeover of the sky. The time was nearly six, one hour until she would be hungry for dinner.

She adjusted her bags and set-off for Accumula Town for their Pokemon Center, hopefully she'd get their in time to pick out a nice dish for the night.

But Madeleine couldn't help but be nagged by Madam Leovenne's cryptic talk about her future. Child of the bird hunters and sky maps was understandable, for her last name Fowler meant Bird Hunter and as her mother's family name was Carticello or otherwise known as Maps of the Sky. However, what bothered her was the demonic talk about a terrible fate.

So she would have a terrible fate? As what though? Madeleine wanted to be a Paleontologist and possibly battle the League, what was going to happen? She was gong to fail school? Paleontology would loose meaning? The Pokemon League would disband? How laughable.

But then other thoughts crossed her mind. Was she going to die? Was someone she knew going to die? Were her friend pokemon going to die?

More and more questions darkened her thoughts, making her mind stir and dribble with trouble. Such thoughts were making her very jittery and caused her eyes to check her surroundings very quickly.

The walk to Accumula Town seemed longer than it should have, since the darkness was quickly taking over the Earth as the sun was disappearing quite slowly in the early summer sky. Madeleine was relieved to finally step onto the town's sidewalk, she was back in civilization and safe from the wild darkness at long last.

She didn't waste anymore time, quickly making a b-line for the Pokemon Center to check in. Madeleine walked to her room and put her bags down before releasing Ashes and Fera from their suspended animation. Ashes jumped up in joy as Fera squawked, the two were hungry and ready to eat.

Madeleine finished settling into her room before heading out for the cafeteria with Ashes and Fera behind her. When they arrived at their destination, Madeleine took a tray and filled it with food for herself and two bulls full of pokemon food before going to the check-out to swipe her trainer card. Once it was accepted Madeleine picked an empty table near a large window and sat down with Ashes and Fera climbing onto the table.

She laughed happily at how Ashes and Fera were eager for food and set down their bowls, each gobbling up their meal. Madeleine began to eat her roast tauros and side of pesto pasta, sipping at some water every time she need to drink.

One thought still nagged at her mind, causing her to zone-out while eating. She continually thought about the Dragon's Tear, what could it be and what did it mean?

Madeleine didn't sleep well that night, even with the comfort of Ashes and Fera being next to her in bed.

The next morning she went back down Route Two and into Striaton City for a quick rest stop. She saw to her surprise that the Striaton Gym had it's doors open with stacked furniture being wheeled out, there were even ropes hanging down from the roof.

Madeleine suddenly remembered what Cilan and Chili had told her yesterday, this gym wasn't going to make it into the new gym line up. Striaton Gym was done for, the three brothers only run a restaurant.

She gulped, thinking about Lenora, at least she would still be the director of the museum right?

Madeleine remembered that about a month ago her mentor had told her that the new change in gyms had been accelerated due to team Plasma, even if the team had disbanded it had still sent a deep shockwave through Unova. A new line up of gyms with stronger pokemon had to come in eventually in case a new team were to make it's mark in the region.

The girl looked over at the gym one more time before deciding to tour the Dreamyard.

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**Hopefully everyone now has a better view on Madeleine's character: a girl who wishes to be left alone from fellow humans and to become a Paleontologist one day. ****Also, I'm putting in extra side stories to show the transition between Black and White to it's Sequel Black and White 2.**

** Next up: Battle with Lenora.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Wow this chapter was really long, I even think that I might have made it too long but ehh I just wanted to write about a battle between a student and her teacher.**

**We also get to see some new characters and some more plot at the end so enjoy!**

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Morning in Nacrene City was quiet as usual, at four in the morning life would begin to stir as people awoke to open up their businesses. Warehouses would light up as early workers would eat their breakfast or give out morning supplies for the day.

At five in the morning facilities would open and wild pokemon on the streets would awaken. Lenora and her staff would certainly be starting up the museum now, making sure light fixtures and machines would be working for the public and getting the displays into position. Newspapers would be at every house's doorstep just as the mailman or women for the day would be pulling up with his or her van full of letters and packages.

Six o'clock was for those to make breakfast and shower before school and work. Surely the coffee shops were jam-packed now full of office workers, or maybe pokemon were going into alleyways for food.

Seven in the morning, children were going to school and the museum was now open. Adults were at work as teenagers slept in before their classes were to begin.

Eight o'clock, stores and businesses were now open, teens were at school, and a lone figure approached the town from Route Three.

A passerby that worked at the museum spotted the figure walking past her and down the street. She quickly turned around and recognized the wavy auburn hair, "Madeleine?! You're back so soon?!"

Madeleine stopped and turned around in surprise, she had been too zoned out to notice one of Lenora's lab assistants, "Helena? I just came back from Striaton, but I took a few detours to tour what was beyond Route Three."

"That's great!" the excited assistant smiled. "Did you get the badge?"

"Yeah I did." Madeleine fished out the Trio Badge for Helena to look at.

At first, Helena let out a look of shock, she hadn't been expecting Madeleine to pass through Striaton City at all. She wasn't the only one to think either, there were even Madeleine's fellow trainers at the museum and a few other assistants, Helena was even sure that she had heard a group of kids in the display halls talk about how Madeleine would fail.

But here she was, standing completely normal in Nacrene City with the Striaton Gym Badge in a gentle hand. Helena's look passed into one of pleasure, "That's really cool! Would you like to head home and show your family?"

"No thanks," Madeleine put the badge away, "I'd like to challenge Lenora now."

Again Helena was shocked because of Madeleine, "Are you sure? I think that they may want to see you."

Madeleine shook her head, "No thanks, I want to go challenge Lenora now."

Helena sighed, "Okay, I'll just be out here fetching supplies for the other researchers."

The auburn teen waited until Helena had turned a corner before heading northward for the gym. She couldn't see her family at this time during a weekday, her mother and father were at work and her brother was at his school by now. Hopefully Madeleine would visit her family around six or seven that evening after the gym battle.

Madeleine walked into the museum like she was ready for work again. If she hadn't have been accepted into the museum by Lenora then Madeleine wouldn't have graduated early from an online school. To a normal visitor, Madeleine was a teen skipping school, but to the museum Madeleine was a private studies student for Lenora.

She brought out her studies pass and Trainer Card for admittance before heading downstairs for the gym. The man behind the counter pressed a button for the trainers and leader downstairs to know that there was a challenger coming to see them.

Madeleine arrived at the library's entrance and looked around, she knew what she had to do in this puzzle. She stepped forward and began.

Lenora sat in her downstairs office, looking through research papers. This was a day where she would spend her time going through the latest archeological finds from commissioners who would pay gladly for artifacts in their galleries.

Now Lenora didn't really like this kind of work but she needed a bit of extra money since her gym was dangerously close to not making it to the new generation of gyms. She would need to use the money for reconstruction purposes like what was happening at the Striaton Gym for their building's analyses.

A knock was heard on her door, knowing that it was a challenger Lenora gladly said, "Please come in."

She stood up and stacked her papers as the challenger came down the extra flight of stairs and towards their side of the field. Lenora calmly tided everything up and looked over to find Madeleine.

"My what a surprise!" she laughed. "I thought that you would be staying away from Route Three for awhile!"

"Hello Lenora," Madeleine smiled, "yes, I actually thought about that but I just couldn't stay away knowing that your museum was here."

The museum director took a poke ball out of her pocket, "Now, I know that I may be your teacher, but that doesn't mean that I'm not going to go easy on you."

Madeleine unfastened Fera's poke ball from her belt and squinted her eyes, "Same here."

With a quick throw, Lenora tossed out her herdier, Barth, Barth barked in recognition of the challenger as she tossed out Fera. Fera squawked and flapped her feathery arms in challenge, the herdier sending her a grizzled look in response.

"No referee?" Madeleine asked.

"We won't need one," Lenora put a hand on her hip, "since the new gym line up is nearly here I've decided to step up my game, I'll be the referee and there'll be two strong pokemon."

Madeleine looked over at Barth, remembering when Team Plasma had come around, he had surely been an unstoppable force next to the five other pokemon that Lenora had made her team. She sweated slightly at the sight of the powerful canine.

Lenora raised her arm, "Madeleine, you have returned to challenge my gym for the basic Badge, I welcome your challenge! Let us begin!"

"Loud and clear!" Madeleine shouted back.

"Good! Now Barth let's show our student who's boss, use work up!"

Barth barked the atmosphere around him grew tense as the herdier howled in rage, Fera had to take a step back in shock.

"Don't loose hope Fera! Use acrobatics!" Madeleine reassured her pokemon.

Fera felt a surge of confidence and charged forth, using her flying type attack by jumping and flapping through the air before aiming an attack at Barth. However, Barth saw through this and instantly decided to bite at the archen, snagging it's head in his jaws.

"Fera!" Madeleine cried out in alarm as Fear screeched, the archen trying to pull out of the canine pokemon's mouth.

Lenora laughed, "Did you expect for me not to know your battle strategy? I've been mentoring my trainers for years now, learning about their strategies and pokemon in order to help them learn."

Barth threw Fera across the floor and back towards Madeleine's side of the gym. Fera shakily stood up and tried to look as menacing as possible or just enough to try and intimidate Barth.

"Well who cares?!" unfortunately, Madeleine was always a sore loser when it came to serious battle and had a bad habit about losing badly to people she knew. "Fera let's take control of the field and win this! Swoop in and use double team!"

Fera cried out and ran forth, multiplying herself until there were fifteen of her. Barth narrowed his eyes and looked at each copy carefully, knowing that the prehistoric bird pokemon could spring from anywhere and could give him a nasty blow.

He soon heard a rush of feathers and turned to see the real Fera use pluck on him. Barth howled in pain as Fera nipped at his face, his fur both ruffled and plucked out of his skin.

Fera backed off with a mouthful of fur in her grasp, soon coughing it back up on the gym floor in disgust.

Lenora raised an eyebrow, "Impressive, but not impressive enough." She raised an arm to point at Fera, "Now Barth! Let's use take down!"

Barth barked again and began to charge, heading straight for Fera. Fera jumped and prepared for another attack.

"Use ancient power!" Madeleine commanded. The archen squawked and called for the large boulders, aiming for Barth she threw her arms down.

Barth charged through the rocks and winced at the recoil before continuing his attack, Fera cried out in alarm just before Barth tackled into her. The assault caused her to fly back into the wall behind Madeleine, her eyes spinning with confusion.

"Fera!" she cried, running to her fallen pokemon.

"Is everything okay?" the archeologist asked and Barth barked out his concern.

Madeleine picked up her archen, Fera was still conscious apparently but looked up enough for another round, "You want to forfeit, girl?"

Fera snapped out of her shocked state and flapping her wings in defiance, snapping her beak in her trainer's direction before letting out a squawk.

"Okay! Okay!" Madeleine set Fera down and allowed her to run back onto the field. Madeleine ran onto her stage, "The battle is back on!"

Lenora nodded, "I see then! Let us continue!" Barth let out a bark after Fera squawked something unintelligible at him.

"Let's roll!" Madeleine shouted. "Fera! Let's finish this with ancient power!"

Fera let out a cry before tossing her arms up, summoning rocks of various sizes. Barth moved as he was commanded by Lenora to use take down again, the last attack beginning to restart.

The archen threw the rocks at Barth as he neared her, the herdier in turn took a blast before charging at Fera. Fera flapped her winged appendages furiously before gliding to safely and using ancient power once more. Barth took the hit before going forth with another hurtle of energy, Fera avoided it again and landed on a cluster of debris behind Barth.

At this point the two pokemon were out of breathe, but each still had enough juice left in them to unleash a few more moves.

Lenora took her chance to use the move she had been saving for this moment, "Now's the time Barth, let's use retaliate!"

Barth howled and the atmosphere around him changed again to a more heated one, he charged again with rage in his eyes.

Fera squawked in fright at the sight of her attacker.

"Fera!" Madeleine smiled. "Let's finish this, wait for the last moment to attack."

The archen squawked again and looked at her trainer in disbelief, she soon became quietly when she saw how confident Madeleine was looking at her.

Barth charged, getting closer and closer to his target, looking like he was about to feast o roast archen tonight. Fera shook in her place, hoping that Madeleine's secret plan might work.

As soon as Barth was a few feet away Madeleine shouted, "QUICK GUARD! NOW!"

No need for hesitation, Fera raised her arms and brought u the square shield. Barth ran into it with immediate surprise and bounced back of couple of yards, flying back into one of the debris piles from the take down and ancient power mayhem from before. His head spun like Fera's had when she had been sent flying before, he waited a moment before trying to stand on his four legs again.

"Barth!" Lenora voiced her concern and she was given a soft bark of show that he was okay. The museum director sighed in relief before looking at Madeleine, "You didn't tell me that Fera learned how to use quick guard."

Madeleine put her hands on her hips, "I'm just full of surprises aren't I?"

Fera squawked something at Barth who received a soft growl in response before he shook the dust off of himself.

"Let's finish it!" Lenora continued and Barth snapped to attention. "Use crunch Barth!"

Barth howled once again before letting his fangs glow into a pearly white light, he charged forth again towards Fera.

"Fera!" Madeleine countered. "This is our final attack! Let's use acrobatics!"

Fera cried before charging at the herdier that was coming towards her, using every last bit of her strength to channel her attack towards Barth.

The two then collided, Barth's fangs sinking into Fera's raised arm, their attacks canceling each other out. Blue energy from Fera rebounded off of white energy from Barth, creating a harsh light from the two.

Madeleine took a step back and squinted her eyes to try and look at what was going on. Lenora had put one of her arms up in front of her eyes but had stayed in place, for this occurrence would sometimes happen in her gym.

Soon both of the pokemon canceled each other out and flew in opposite directions across the gym floor.

"Fera!" Madeleine carefully ran towards the archen in distress.

"Barth!" Lenora ran towards her herdier with concern.

Fera was unconscious and out for the count when Madeleine arrived before she picked her up, the large archen letting out soft breathes. Barth tried to stand back up but collapsed and also fell unconscious by the time Lenora arrived to put her arms around the herdier.

Lenora looked across the room to see Fera being put into her poke ball and decided, "The match is a draw, we'll decided who the winner is in the next round!"

"Okay!" Madeleine stood up and brought out another poke ball before putting away Fera.

Lenora turned back to Barth, "You did well today," and put him away in his poke ball.

She stood back and headed for her part of the gym, putting away Barth in one of her huge pockets, "I must say that I'm impressed, I would have thought that you would have been defeated by the first half of your battle with Barth."

Madeleine let out a silent chuckle, she had learned from her role model and had studied how to defeat her, of course it wouldn't be simple but there was a way through or around everything.

"I now who's next," Lenora tossed a new poke ball into the air, "but that doesn't mean that I won't be going easy on him either! Go on Ramona!"

The poke ball released Lenora's prized watchog, who jumped out of the air and landed on her four legs before recomposing herself to stand up straight.

Madeleine threw her poke ball into the air and released Ashes who chirped and landed in the opposite direction of Ramona. The watchog stared menacingly down at Ashes who glared in defiance.

Lenora looked at the two before back up at her student, "Begin."

Ramona leapt into action immediately and straight for her four-legged opponent, leaning downward to use low kick, Ashes thankfully jumped up in time to dodge but wasn't fast enough to calculate Ramona's second attack. The watchog quickly leaned upwards and used crunch on Ashes, making him squeal in pain.

"Ashes!" Madeleine cried out worriedly. "Counter attack with bite!"

Ashes complied through the pain, reached his neck out, and bit the back of Ramona's neck. Ramona yowled and released Ashes, the eevee jumping behind her.

"Charge with quick attack!" he bolted at Ramona's back and made a critical hit, each pokemon had now suffered equal damage.

The watchog grunted before swiftly turning around to start attacking her opponent with her tail. Ashes cried out in pain every time Ramona's tail came flying out to give him a direct hit.

Madeleine watched the spectacle with her thumbnail between her teeth before ordering, "Ashes dodge quickly and bring a blow to her sides!"

The little eevee tried but the larger pokemon in front of him was preventing him from doing pretty much of anything.

Lenora let out a hearty laugh, "Just because I'm your teacher doesn't mean that I have to teach you all of my tricks!"

Ramona stopped for a moment before lunging at Ashes who was now drunken with tiredness and got a direct hit to his chest. Ashes let out another cry before falling to floor, covered in bruises.

Madeleine growled in frustration and thumbed Ashes' poke ball with irritation, she knew that it wasn't his fault for loosing but the pure shame of loosing in front of the one person she admired burned a deep feeling into her.

"Now that you've seen my trick I think I should tell you," Lenora continued. "You're not the only one in the battle, your pokemon are too. Let them fight, let them show us what they got, you should be letting them fight with their heart."

Ramona sniffed before swishing her tail in agreement.

Madeleine looked out at the field in front of her, surveying Ramona for a moment before combing through Ashes. Ramona was on a whole different level of tough in contrast to Ashes, for she was a much older and stronger built pokemon that had been raised by Madeleine's teacher. Now Ashes was quite younger and had been put under stress from not being allowed to move on in training while serving as Madeleine's choice in gym pokemon. He however had also socialized with the other pokemon of the gym, fellow trainers' and Lenora's alike, so surely he would have gained and shared tips on battling with his peers.

The young paleontologist looked at Ashes one more time before back at his poke ball in her hand, had she been the one holding him back or was it Lenora? Had he been not battling with his heart the whole time?

Madeleine wiped away her anger and chuckled, putting away Ashes' poke ball, "You know Lenora, you're right again. I may be your student but that doesn't mean that I'll never move on from you one day."

She looked back at her eevee, "Hey Ashes, you can get up now."

Ashes immediately opened his eyes and sprang up onto his four legs, he shook himself to let the dirt from the battle fly off. When finished he flashed Ramona a determined look.

"Fight now Ashes!" Madeleine raised her arm. "Fight with all your heart!"

Ashes let out a battle cry and charged at his opponent.

Lenora let out a small smile, "I see, if that's how it's going to be then I won't let Ramona hold back either."

Ramona flared her nostrils before also charging, her fangs glowing white as Ashes's fur was streaking with the same white light. Ashes jumped and ducked, aiming at the watchog's chest. He was rewarded with a direct hit as Ramona took a step back and charged again, Ashes leaned down low to the ground and waited as she ran for him with her neck outstretched.

Ashes jumped up again with his fangs glowing and aimed for her neck, he was unlucky however as Ramona pulled back and whipped him with her tail. The eevee went flying to the side of the gym and landed in a pile of debris from the earlier battle with Fera and Barth, he got back up to face Ramona. Ramona let out a cry before charging again, but this time with her arms outstretched.

Her opponent quickly turned around and kicked sand into her face, blinding her. As Ramona quickly rubbed at her eyes, Ashes snuck around and jumped from her behind to bite her shoulder like a hungry carvanha. She cried out in a mixture of alarm and pain as the eevee dug in deeper and deeper the more she struggled through her blindness.

Finally Ramona was granted her eyesight back, she immediately turned her head and grabbed Ashes with her right arm. She activated revenge and started violently pulling at him as he refused to leave the comfort of her shoulder. Ashes and Ramona growled even more furiously at each other the more Ramona tugged and the more Ashes bit down. Both of their trainers looked worriedly at their pokemon as they tried to tear the other apart.

Ashes was finally pulled off by a screeching Ramona, the two looking at each other with wild eyes. Ramona threw the eevee across the room as she whipped her tail back in forth with ferocity, Ashes landing on his four legs and charging back at Ramona.

This time however, the watchog couldn't react, the last bit of her strength had been put into her revenge, she clung onto her left shoulder and let her hand cover the place where Ashes had bit her. The said eevee then lightly came to a stop and bumped his head at Ramona's knee, causing her to fall into a faint.

Ramona had finally been defeated, which meant that Ashes had won the battle. The eevee chirped with joy up at the ceiling before trotting over to his trainer.

Madeleine gladly accepted him with open arms, "Hey buddy, you did well today." Ashes nuzzled into her hug and let out a soft breathe, tired to the bone.

Lenora brought Ramona back into her ball in a flash of red light, "Rest up now, you were excellent." She looked over at Madeleine as she let Ashes into his ball and smiled at her student.

Madeleine stood back up and looked at her teacher with a smirk, "Well, what do you say?"

"Okay, you beat me!" Lenora laughed. "Surely you would beat me one day but I would never expect it to be today!"

The two jumped off of their stages and towards the other before coming to a stop in the center of the field.

"Well," Lenora let out a breathe, she had clearly known that this day was coming but she hadn't been prepared for it yet. "It's been ten years Madeleine, you've been my pupil for ten years…"

Madeleine smiled and nodded, swinging her legs in glee.

"I've always known that there would be a day where you would beat me but to think today of all things…"

"Lenora please," the younger smiled bashfully, "you're rambling."

"Right! Right!" the museum director put her hands together. "I promised that I'd give you something special, like all gym leaders, if you'd manage to beat me in a fair battle one day. Today's the day, here's your Basic Badge."

She took out one of her gym's badges from one of her back pockets and presented it to Madeleine, "It might be covered in ancient dust and lint, but I'll have you know that I was saving it for the day you would beat me."

Madeleine looked at it in awe, clearly it had lost some of it's shine over the years and it had a dirty fingerprint on one of it's corners, but it was perfect. The amethyst gems were still a deep purple, Madeleine's favorite color. It's rusty colored fingerprint was the dust off of an old prehistoric bone that Lenora had been cleaning way back to one of the days where Madeleine had been pleading with her to join the gym, Madeleine's career choice.

She smiled down at it with shinning eyes as she slowly put it away in her gem box before Lenora handed her the TM for revenge.

"Aw," Lenora looked at Madeleine again, "I'm going to miss you sweetie."

"I'll miss you too Lenora." she smiled and looked at the ground.

Without warning, Lenora pulled the smaller into a hug, "Oh no sweetheart I mean it! I'm going to miss you so badly!" She wailed, clearly being overemotional.

"I'm going to miss the days when you were just a small child excited about the dinosaurs and how you would come to the museum everyday rain or shine! I'll miss the time you accidentally walked into a display while reading a book about battle strategies! I'm going to also miss that one time during the museum sleepover you sleepwalked into the ribs of the giant sauropod and woke up crying! I'll miss your cool drawings, the sweet cakes you baked, the-"

"Okay Lenora that it enough!" Madeleine had to push her teacher away, knowing full well that once Lenora got going there was no stopping her. "I'll miss you too, for real! But I got to fulfill my journey and outside study before I return here!"

Lenora wiped away a tear, "Yes, of course, of silly of me…" She then grew serious and saluted, "Madeleine V. Fowler! As of this day you have completely graduated from my gym! I wish you luck on your journey to become a Paleontologist!"

Madeleine saluted back, "Yes sir, mam, sir! I thank you for your incredible lessons and your great spirit, I hope to see you again soon!"

She later walked out of the museum and was met by a crowd of people from all over Nuvema Town. Children looked up at her in awe as the adults and teen stared in bewilderment.

"Did you win?" someone in the crowd asked.

Madeleine nodded and pulled out her badge case, showing-off both of her earned gems in the afternoon sun. The crowd immediately broke out into applause and Madeleine put away her case as they parted for her to return home.

Once she was out of sight one of them murmured, "I didn't think that she would do it…"

"I don't think any of us thought so too kid."

"What are you all doing?" they turned around to find a tired Lenora holding a Kleenex under one of her eyes. "Get out of here before I send out my other pokemon!"

Back down a few streets, Madeleine had fished out her house key and had successfully opened the door to her family's house. Duffy came up meowing in glee, for finally someone had came home early to feed him.

Madeleine stooped down to pet him, "Hey there boy, did you miss me?"

Duffy purred deeply and rubbed Madeleine's hand with his head, liking her friendly touch.

Seeing that it was nearly three in the afternoon, Madeleine stood back up to get Duffy's food. She fed him and set her own pokemon into the house's PC system before fixing herself some lunch and waiting for her family to come home in the next three-to-five hours.

After awhile they did come home and celebrate Madeleine's victory with a special dinner and desert outing just for her, Ashes, and Fera.

In the next two days Madeleine was just passing through Pinwheel Forest, going down the paved path while admiring the dense scenery. She didn't have her pokemon out at the time and she wasn't really in the mood to take notes on the more natural path either.

The forest made her feel at ease as the sunlight slithered through the trees and warmed her pale skin, she smiled up at the natural light.

"Move it please!" someone pushed her out of the way, ruining her serene moment in the wilderness.

She looked ahead to see it was a boy about her age with salt and peeper hair with a matching black and white striped long sleeved shirt and bright orange pants. Madeleine raised her voice in irritation, "Hey!"

The boy turned around to take a good look at Madeleine with his clear blue eyes, "Sorry about that but I'm in a hurry to see the Castelia City Gym Leader!"

He gave her a hearty grin, "You look really cute though so I apologize again since I'm in a hurry! Ta-ta!" The boy ran on ahead.

Madeleine had her mouth opened in shock for the next few minutes, she had never met someone who felt so self-centered in all of her life. This boy stood for everything she hated about humans: rude, annoying, obnoxious, and extremely male.

But before she could march down the path with a dark demeanor, someone tapped her shoulder, "Excuse me? Am I going down the right way?"

Her dark mood quickly diminished and was replaced with a soft smile as she turned around to face the speaker, "Excuse me?"

It was a girl who looked slightly taller than her but none of the less the same age. She was cinnamon-colored and wore a heavy striped coat, oink skirt, black leggings, white polo, and black slip-on shoes, and not to mention a large olive and pink hi-jab. This girl looked really pretty in Madeleine's opinion.

She spoke up again with her soft voice, "I was wondering if this was the paved path to Castelia City? I'm off to a convention in town."

Madeleine nodded, "Yes, I'm also traveling to Castelia City, this is the safer path."

"Oh good." the girl smiled. "I'm terrible at directions and I just need someone to help me sometimes."

She looked over Madeleine's shoulder, "Do you mind if I travel with you? I could also use the company to help me focus on the road."

Madeleine raised an eyebrow, "Sure."

The two were silent for a while down the road as they walked side-by-side, the stranger finally spoke up, "My name is Lauren by the way, I'm from Hoenn."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Madeleine, I'm from Nacrene City here." she bowed her head politely.

"Oh so you're a local?' Lauren squealed with glee. "How is everything here? I haven't really talked with anybody from here you know?"

Madeleine chuckled, lightening her mood, "Things are a little uneasy ever since Team Plasma came around but we're doing fine recovering after their reign."

"That's good to hear, when I was little, Hoenn was attacked by two teams known as Team Magma and Team Aqua. Everything is all fine now though, we're also adding some changes to the region that are supposed to take effect in another year or two."

"That sounds like fun, do you have any cool museums?"

"Definitely! There are plenty of marine and art museums in the region."

"How about Paleontology? Anything with dinosaurs or prehistoric creatures?"

"Not really but we have a tone of dig sites and ancient caves where you can see great paleo finds, or so I hear."

"I see."

The same mood returned as the two walked over the bridge.

Lauren brought up another topic, "So where are you going in Castelia City?"

"The gym, I'm going to challenge the gym."

"That's cool, are you training to become the champion of the region?"

"Maybe, it's not really something I'd do though."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I'd rather go down my dream path than go something strictly power or politically based."

"What is your dream career then?"

"I want to become a Paleontologist!" Madeleine stated out passionately. "I want to travel the world and discovered prehistoric pokemon and how they lived."

"That sounds neat!" Lauren agreed.

They continue to talk until they came upon the exit where Lauren invited Madeleine to go along to the science convention with her. As they exited the forest, a lone figure with shades that kept to the shadows looked at them in wonder.

"I think that I should do some recalculations."

* * *

**What's going to happen? Find out next time when Madeleine reaches Castellia City.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for disappearing, after a long time I have finally recieved the inspiration to finish this chapter. So far, I've been really excited to get to the plot so I'm sorry if the next chapter may seem a bit rushed or not (same goes for this chapter).**

* * *

Skyarrow Bridge looked marvelous while walking towards the two girl's destination, but Castelia City was the one to admire the most.

The city's view from the bridge certainly took Madeleine and Lauren's breaths away as they strode towards it. Certainly the largest city in the Unova region had earned it's title, judging by the size of the buildings and the brightness of the lights.

As the two entered the large city, Lauren turned to face her new friend, "I'm sorry but I need to head out now, I have to hurry over to find someone before it's too late."

"Well okay," Madeleine gave her a small smile, "it was nice seeing you."

"You as well." the tanned girl bowed and left, heading past the Pokemon Center and towards the furthest street.

Madeleine stood there for a moment, lost in thought, as she stared into space with her eyes unfocused. She thought about her hike through Pinwheel Forest and how eventful it had been. Surely she had wanted to go through the untamed path of the forest but her victory from Lenora was still going strong and she had wanted to be at ease for the while. There were notes left unchecked but that wasn't at all the matter, for as long as she felt fine then everything was fine.

The young trainer then thought about her encounter with Lauren and how the two seemed to get along just fine. It seemed like Lauren was deeply interested in science just like Madeleine and even shared the same enthusiasm for everything they talked about. Lauren was not much of an interesting character to her but was a nice person to hang around.

Now Madeleine hadn't really had much of friends over the years, there were of course the people who would come and stay with her for awhile but then leave out of fear, mean, or selfish reasons. Having a human friend was alien to Madeleine, for she only knew how to act correctly with pokemon but not her own species. She couldn't help it though, Madeleine had her own interests and the other children had theirs. The worriment of gaining friends soon diminished however when she was a little over the age of twelve, at the time when Lenora had showed her an online school for kids like her who were also interested in science. Madeleine soon graduated two years later with flying colors and could finally roam free without a care about school or her peers back in the confines of the brick building known as a 'school'.

She shook her head, rattling the thoughts in her mind and distorting them so that way she could continue on to her chosen path.

Madeleine soon headed down the street for the Pokemon Center to check a room and get some lunch, at the cafeteria she registered her location in her Xtransceiver. She scrolled through any messages and saw an email from a few of her cousins in Jhoto, it read that they were proud of her for going on her own pokemon journey through the region and that they missed her badly. Scrolling past some updates on her internet accounts, she saw that Lauren had just posted her location. This was not odd, for when the two were walking on the bridge they had exchanged numbers so that way they could get together later for the science convention.

Madeleine shuffled around a little more through her notifications list before finishing her lunch, she gathered her trainer bag and pokemon before heading back out on the town, ready for another gym battle. She went down the same direction Lauren had left and down the farthest street.

What she had expected to find was not there however, instead there was an irritated looking Lauren looking over the boy that had bumped into Madeleine while walking through Pinwheel forest. Madeleine stopped in her tracks as the Hoenian began to nag at the boy, judging by the soft flinch from him it looked like Lauren had found him a long while ago.

"What were you thinking again? You just think that you can waltz up into any building and expect a battle? No way! You have to at least read and prepare before you can go in to such a serious battle!"

"Geez I'm sorry!" he pleaded. "I was just out-of-control again, okay?"

"Sorry ain't gonna cut it mister!"

Madeleine decided on taking her route in reverse, stepping back ever so slowly…

The small action caused the two to look over in her direction, their faces going from angry and scared to wonderment.

Lauren's face suddenly lit up and she put her hands together, "Oh Madeleine! I'm so sorry you had to see this."

"Whoa! You're the girl from the forest!" the rude boy stood up straight and looked at her with his goofy grin.

Madeleine gave him a soft glare, not really in the mood for this, and turned to Lauren, "What's going on? Did you find the person you wanted to meet with?"

"Yes," Lauren sighed and gestured to the boy next to her. "This is Charles, my brother."

"Sup!" he waved.

Madeleine began to sweat, looking at the two closer now. Lauren had a darker skin-tone but Charles was far more paler than the young paleontologist. Even through studies of prehistoric pokemon skulls Madeleine could identify that there were very unique facial differences between the two siblings.

Lauren saw Madeleine's concern and waved her off, "He's adopted! Please don't worry!"

Madeleine's dark feelings soon diminished and she sighed in relief, "Well that certainly answers most of my questions."

Charles walked up to her, "Well, since we've met already in the forest and you're already well acquainted with my sister, this is destiny day! I've got to take you on a date!"

He grasped Madeleine's hands in his own and looked at her with a shining face, "It must be so!"

Madeleine returned the gesture with a dark look and Lauren pulled at her brother's ear, causing him to reel back in pain and unclench his hands from Madeleine's.

"What did I just finish telling you?!" she hissed at him.

"Ow! Ow! Okay! You just finished telling me about not flinging myself onto new things!"

"Precisely!" she let go of him and he gently covered his ear in pain.

"Sorry about him," Lauren went to stand next to Madeline, "he has a thing where he likes to throw himself at girls."

Madeleine raised an eyebrow, "A Ladies' Man?"

Lauren nodded as they turned to look back at Charles, who had now recomposed himself.

"Anyway," he looked much more sincere, "it would do me the great pleasure if we would battle, the winner gets to call the shots tonight."

Madeleine chuckled and thumbed Ashes's poke ball, "You want to take me on?"

"Of course!" he nodded in a determined fashion.

Soon they had rented a trainer space in a building further down the street where the two young trainers could battle. Lauren stood on the referee's stage as Madeleine took the left side and Charles took the right.

She raised her hand, "Charles from Hoen challenges Madeleine from Unova, please take your positions and begin!"

"Let's roll Rachel!" Charles threw out one of his poke balls and a very fluffy poochyena appeared in a flash of white light. It barked happily before it sat and it's haunches and wagged it's tail.

"Fera, you're up." Madeleine let Fera out, she squawked up at the ceiling before ruffling her feathers.

"Sorry sweetheart but all you're getting is tough love! Rachel, let's use roar!"

Rachel barked again before sucking in a deep breathe, she held it for a moment before letting it rip into a blast of loud canine noise. Fera shuffled backwards in annoyance before looking back at the canine pokemon.

"Save your breathe, let's show hem who's boss with your ancient power Fera!"

The archen complied and quickly moved into action, summing up large boulders with dark purple energy to throw at Rachel.

Rachel finished her power-up and also charged forward, letting her fangs glow bright white. She leaped in front of Fera before going for the small archen's body in one swift bite. Fera's attack immediately canceled upon itself as she was lifted above Rachel's head, she cried out in alarm as the poochyena began to shake her.

"Fera!" Madeleine cried out in alarm. "Use pluck and get out of there!"

The archen flapped her wings and instantly nipped at Rachel's face, causing the young cub to winch in pain before dropping her prey. Once Fera was free she retaliated by using acrobats on her opponent multiple times. Rachel was backed into Charles' stage before Fera swooped back to finish her off with ancient power.

Once the attack was over, Rachel had fallen unconscious.

Lauren held up her hand, "Okay! Fera and Madeleine win round one!"

Madeleine smiled, "Good work Fera! You've earned it!"

Fera squawked before running over to her trainer, disappearing inside of her poke ball. Charles on the other hand sighed and let Rachel back into her ball before tsking in annoyance.

"Round two begin!"

"Onward Vennie!" Charles released a vennenat that jumped high into the air once released.

"Your turn Ashes!" the eevee jumped into the arena and chirped a greeting to his opponent. Vennie hissed at Ashes in response and the eevee ruffled his fur back, his opponent noticeably had a nasty attitude.

The vennenat struck first, running forward to bite at Ashes. Ashes stood his ground until Vennie came a foot in front of him, he then quickly turned around to kick up sand into Vennie's face.

Blinded, Vennie began to scratch around his eyes as Ashes dodged around to use quick attack. His tackle drove Vennie into the ground with immense strength, causing even more sand to scuffle around.

When the dust settled, the audience saw that Ashes had a paw over Vennie's throat, the vennenat had fainted after Ashes had easily tired him out.

Lauren put a hand in the air, "That concludes it, Ashes and Madeleine are the winners!"

Ashes trotted up to his owner and barked in joy, Madeleine stooped down to pet him, "Nice going, boy, you deserve a treat with Fera after dinner."

The eevee barked with joy again as Charles let out a large breathe as he returned Vennie, this guy had clearly just caught this pokemon. Madeleine let Ashes back into his poke ball before the three humans gathered at the entrance of the rented gym.

"So," Lauren began, "since Madeleine won, she does not have to follow with Charles' bet and can claim her own rewards from him."

Charles shrugged, "That's fine, so Madeleine, what do you want from me?"

Madeleine looked at him with an unimpressed stare. This boy looked inexperienced with serious battles and had a naïve nature, a deadly personality combo for someone like him to have. However, maybe if she stuck around with him for a while, the young paleontologist might learn something intriguing about him.

"I want a favor," Madeleine smiled. "For later, when I need it."

The pale boys' eyes lit up in curiosity, "Well okay then! I'll be there when you need me!"

The three soon went back to the front room to return the keys and heal their pokemon. Madeleine checked the time and scoffed, it was three in the afternoon by now and there was now no time to challenge the gym. Thanks to Lauren's adopted sibling, Madeleine would have to add a day into her adventure schedule.

Lauren, meanwhile, was busy looking through her cream and pink colored messenger bag. She then brought out two brochures, "Well, it looks like we still have some time for the Science Convention before the day ends."

"Alright!" Charles jumped for joy as he snatched his brochure and flipped through it. "I've been waiting for this even for months! I can finally see the presentation of the new aquarium in Kalos and their power plants! Oh! Maybe I should ask about their poke ball factory!"

Lauren put her bag around her shoulder again before she noticed that Madeleine was leaving the center with her healed pokemon. The trainer in question was busy looking through her Xtransceiver to see if there were any stops or sights to visit in the city before dinnertime. Lauren then caught up to her and handed Madeleine the brochure, "Why don't you come with us to the convention? It will be tons of fun and there will sure to be tons of Paleontology or Geology programs."

Madeleine had put down her device to take the brochure, she raised her eyebrows when Lauren had remembered what Madeleine had said back in Pinwheel Forest. She looked through the brochure before up at Lauren, "Sure, it sounds like a lot of fun."

"Awesome sauce!" Lauren smiled and shook her fists in excitement. She pulled Charles along with her, "Just follow us to the convention center, we'll be there in no time!"

So Madeleine was put between the excited hi-jab wearing trainer and an egocentric Charles on their way towards the back of the city. Lauren was busy talking with Madeleine about how cool the even was going to be as her brother kept on trying to get the paleo trainer to side with him in many conversations of his choice.

Madeleine was so nervous that she felt like a small rattatat caught between two sevipers, it sounded funny because she was an inch taller than Lauren who was also an inch taller than Charles.

Finally, the three made it to the large circular building with a large banner shouting out in bi black bold letters, 'THE ST. GEORGE HEARTENSTEIN SCENCE AND MATHEMATICS CONVENTION' right over the entrance. Lauren steered them up the front steps and through the crowded doors, making them squeeze an entrance through a crowd of young students on a fieldtrip.

The two siblings awed at the sight of the many tables and presentations being made in front of them, taking careful steps before they ran-off in different directions. Madeleine was left in the no-mans land between the entrance and the smaller tables.

She didn't mind, however, and instead took an even longer moment to drink-in the sights. This was the place she had dreamed of going to (or at least thought of), a place where scientific minds could gather and exchange ideas about the past, present, and future.

Madeleine began walking around the tables and seeing the different forms of thoughts around her. There was everything from Rocket Science, to Bioengineering, to Study of Animatronics, and to the Study of Dairy Products.

She dashed around a large group of onlookers of a futuristic-looking inventions that could clean your home in thirty minutes to make way for the next table filled with Advanced Physics formulas. Madeleine went through the provided books and even examined the charts of what the professor here had studied. Being the advanced graduate she was from online schooling, she understood most of what the man had to show for his work before taking a pamphlet and continuing on.

It took her five minutes to find the table of her dreams. Madeleine was instantly drawn to the sight of the hanging art pieces of ancient pokemon and the pencil sketches of the bones and other fossilized remains.

The Paleo Artist behind the table looked up at her, "Ah, I see someone has finally found my table."

Madeleine looked at the elderly man, "Hello?"

"My name is Julius Sanders, I'm the author and Illustrator of my work," he brought a hardcover book from under a table and placed it on top of some posters. "I've been commissioned by museums all across the globe on my thoughts about ancient life."

Madeleine flipped through the book as her eyes popped, "This is neat!"

The artist laughed, "I can tell tat you're not like the other people your own age."

She looked up at him and smiled, "I don't think so?"

He then put his fist to his chin and examined her with his eyes, "No…no you're not…"

Madeleine's smile vanished as she felt like she had been when Madam Leovenne was about to yell at her. It was nearly the same experience.

"You come from a town where everyone looked down upon you…you've only had one true friend as your own family thought of you as something not yourself…you actually have some of the best fortune…and you've been taught by your hero about what truly matters in your life."

She turned her head to the side in an awkward manner. Seeing Madeleine do this, Julius turned back to normal and shake his hands, "Oh I'm sorry! I just sometimes like to examine people I find interesting! You're by far a new chapter in this world's large book."

"Thanks?" she smiled embarrassedly at him. "How much is the book?"

Julius then gave her the price which she paid for and signed it, even giving her some paleo and geo science-related events that were to happen tonight. Madeleine exchanged goodbyes with him and left.

Now, back at Lauren and Charles, the two had just walked away from a presentation about dairy-free ice cream and were busy slurping away free samples that they had received. Lauren poked at her icy treat glumly with her spoon as she mumbled something unintelligible. Charles, seeing this, asked her what was wrong.

"I feel a bit guilty about abandoning Madeleine at the entrance like that," she sighed and finally scooped at some more ice cream. "I don't think I was fair to her by brining her somewhere and just leaving her."

"Heh, yeah." Lauren glanced at her brother and noticed that he wasn't eating that much anymore. It was surprising because Charles had a large appetite and always ate so fast.

"Does your ice cream taste like stale cheese too?" Lauren asked.

"Oh no," the black and white striped boy took a scoop into his mouth, "I just don't feel so hungry right now."

"Charles Soviet-Sovern Brown, you are never not hungry."

Charles' eyes widened as he looked at his sister with his spoon still in his mouth.

"Spill the beans, something is on your mind, right?"

He put the spoon back into the cup and began to eat at his usual fast pace, "Sorry-can't-talk-right-now."

Charles then ran to throw out the empty cup and spoon into a nearby trashcan as Lauren tailed him, "Hey! HEY! GET BACK HERE!"

They attracted a lot of odd stares as Charles was chased between the tables with his older sister trying to grab hold of either his bag or the back of his shirt. Finally, it ended when Charles was cornered in the Food Court.

Lauren had the most determined look on her face as she drew herself in closer, "Well Charlie? What is it?"

He gulped and arched his eyebrows, "Fine! I think I might have an actual crush on Madeleine!"

Lauren brought herself back up in surprise, her face looking like she had been slapped by surprise, "Oh."

There was silence between the two for a while before Lauren repeated herself, the silence then continued until the tanned girl's face lit up with realization. She smiled and looked at her brother smugly, "Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! OH! You have an actual crush on somebody this time!"

"Sheesh sis! Quiet down a bit?" Charles' cheeks were brimmed with a red blush out of embarrassment.

"Ah!" Lauren realized what she was doing and put her hands over her mouth. "I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry Charles, I shouldn't be spouting your secrets!"

"Yeah, well," Charles brushed past her, "you shouldn't call me Charlie either."

The faintest evidence of red on his cheeks was still clear, Lauren giggled as she joined his side, "Okay, okay, I'm just so glad that you've finally moved on from being such a go-getter with girls around your age."

"They're your age too." Charles held his arms.

"Yeah, which reminds me," the tanned sister put a finger to her chin, "I don't know how old Madeleine is."

Their conversation ran on as the trainer in question was in an inflatable dome theater, lying on the floor and wearing futuristic glasses like the rest of the observers. There was a professor from the Hoenn region talking about certain planetary formations as the movie played out, moving from galaxy to galaxy. The glasses helped make the experience seem more like they were a part of the star clusters in front of them.

At the end, each participant had to return the glasses and received a pamphlet in return. Madeleine read through the dark slip of paper before checking the time, seeing that it was nearly dinner time at the pokemon center she decided to find her two escorts to thank them.

Seeing them near the entrance, she made a b-line to them.

Lauren stood in front of Charles, seeing her friend she put on a fresh smile, "Sorry about earlier Madeleine, we shouldn't have abandoned you."

"It's okay," the auburn girl shrugged since it wasn't her first time someone had abandoned her at a highly populated place. "I'm about to head back to the center for dinner before I check through some readings."

Madeleine held out hand for Lauren, "Thank you for inviting me here, I had a wonderful time."

Lauren returned the handshake, "Oh it was no problem, I'm just happy to be with someone else who also enjoys science like me and my brother."

Charles gave Madeleine a thumbs-up, "Yeah, it's always a pleasure to meet someone well informed about scientific education."

That was when Lauren sweetly put her fist on top of Charles's head with such force that he cried out in pain, Lauren still looking at Madeleine with a sweet smile.

So that was when Madeleine left towards the center earlier than the two, thinking that the two siblings were quite weird in some way that she couldn't put her finder on.

Later, in her rented room at the pokemon center, Madeleine was sitting down at the foot of the bed as she groomed Ashes. Ashes was purring gently as the front half of his body laid in Madeleine's lap as he was brushed with equally gentle strokes from his trainer. Fera snored heartily as she was curled up in a heap of feathers next to Madeleine, the archen dreaming about a great future where she would finally unfold her appendages into gigantic wings so that she could fly high from within the clouds.

Madeleine yawned herself as she moved her pokemon away from her so that she could settle in for the night. She showered, clothed, and turned off the miniature television that she had been watching previously before she pulled herself under the thick covers. Her only two pokemon at the foot of the bed ruffled themselves in their sleep before tossing back into their plentiful dreams.

In a hotel a few blocks away from the center, a wide awake Charles was lying on his bed with his arms under his head. Both Vennie and Rachel rested at the armchair near the corner of the room as Lauren's own team was resting in their poke balls next to Lauren's bedside.

Now back to Charles, he laid under the covers, staring up at the ceiling, and thinking about the young paleontologist that he had met today. True, she did no like him for the first impression that he had given her, since the black and white boy had been in a hurry. Now however, Charles reflected on his actions with Madeleine and soon realized that she didn't really like or was accustomed to human interaction.

He didn't take note of it at first when he had bumped into her earlier in the forest, for he hadn't had checked Madeleine's extremely miffed look. Later, it was the dark look that she had given him outside of the gym, and it built up to the high and mighty fell that she had exerted from within the battle he had challenged her too.

Charles mentally slapped himself, of course she wouldn't have been pleased with him during the imaginary date, now that he thought about it. From what Lauren had told him, Madeleine was interested in becoming a Paleontologist and traveling the globe I search of prehistoric mysteries to unlock. The adopted sibling had always wanted to be a Physician or a Psychiatric, which was far away from the other trainer's interests.

Oh well, he turned over on his side as sleep came to claim him. It would be best to try and act a bit nicer around Madeleine, since there were some clues as to why she didn't like another human interacting with her.

* * *

** Don't worry folks, this story isn't arranged around romance of any kind, it's just going to be a mature kind of thing where Charles just acts cautious around Madeleine and not confesses his feelings early on. But yeah, the story is more centered around an evil organization, blah blah blah, awaken legendary pokemon, blah blah blah, and one courageous champion must save the day.**

** Also, Madeleine is not always going to be stubborn, for she will soon travel along with the two siblings much later in the adventure. She will gain other pokemon too, but they're going to be added to the party much like how Ash Katchem befriends his pokemon.**

** And that's really all, I don't want to spoil anything for now. Please review/favorite/follow for support!**


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